Pakistani mother sentenced to death for daughter’s ‘honour killing

January 17, 2017 5:56 pm

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Perveen Bibi was sentenced to death on murder and terrorism charges for the ‘honour killing’ of her daughter, Zeenat Bibi/AFP

By AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, LAHORE, Pakistan, Jan 17 – A mother who murdered her own daughter and set her alight for marrying the man of her choice has been sentenced to death, officials said Tuesday, in a case that had revolted many in Pakistan.

Zeenat Bibi, aged 16, was doused with kerosene and set alight in June last year in Pakistan’s teeming cultural capital Lahore, a little over a week after she wed 20-year-old motorcycle mechanic Hasan Khan against her family’s wishes.

Overview

Hundreds of women are killed by their relatives each year after allegedly bringing shame on their families in the deeply conservative Muslim country.

Under previous legislation the culprits usually men could get away with the killings after being pardoned by members of their own family.

A judge in an anti-terror court in Lahore sentenced her mother Perveen Bibi to death on murder and terrorism charges, prosecutor Mian Mohammad Tufail told AFP.

She was charged under Pakistan’s terrorism laws rather than newly-reformed criminal legislation against honour killings because of the use of kerosene in the murder, Tufail said.

Bibi also received a 14-year jail term and was fined one million rupees ($9,300) under separate counts related to the killing. Her son Mohammad Anees was jailed for life and fined 1.5 million rupees for his role in the killing, Tufail said.

Bibi’s son-in-law, the husband of another daughter, was acquitted, he said.

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